Monday, April 8, 2019

Details of the Charges

SHERIFF’S INVESTIGATION LED
TO CRIMINAL CHARGES

Details of the criminal felony charges
against three present Mercer School Board members, Deanna Pierpont, Noel Brandt
and Micki Holmstrom, and two former Board members, Kelly Kohegyi and Denise
Thompson, have been spelled out in Iron County Circuit Court filings by Lt.
Matt Foryan of the Iron County Sheriff’s Department. Lt. Foryan is the complainant in all five criminal
cases.

The charges against the five are considered
Class I felonies and upon conviction could carry penalties for each of fines of
not more than $10,000 or imprisonment of not more than 3 ½ years, or both.

Pierpont is charged by Lt. Foryan
with destroying a public record, the video recording of the October 2017 annual
Mercer School District meeting, which he said involved some profanity and a
confrontation.He cites sec. 946.12(2),
939.50(3)(i) Wis. Stats. “Misconduct/Office-Act/Excess Authority, in that
Pierpont in her capacity as an officer of the School Board, ”did an act which
the officer knows is in excess of the officer’s lawful authority or which the officer
knows the officer is forbidden by law to do in the officer’s official capacity.”

Lt. Foryan also pointed out in the
complaint that Pierpont told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that she had erased
the video.

An additional charge against Pierpont
and the other four defendants relates to a May 1, 2018, letter to the Wisconsin
Department of Public Instruction. Lt
Foryan charged that Kohegyi and Thompson, owner of Tom’s Café in Mercer, signed
the letter as members of the Mercer Board of Education, when, in fact, they
were not members at that time.They did
knowing that their “right so to act had ceased, exercise a function of a public
office, contrary to sec. 946.69(2)(b), 939.50(3)(i) Wis. Stats,” he stated.Lt. Foryan also pointed out that Kohegyi was
defeated in the April 2018 School Board election, and that Thompson had been
off the Board since April 2016.

The charges against Pierpont, Brandt and
Micki Holmstrom, owner of Century 21 Pierce Realty in Mercer, stem from their signing
the May 1, 2018, letter along with Kohegyi and Thompson, knowing that they were
non-board members.“It is forbidden by law
to exercise a function of public office knowing that his/her right to so act
had ceased,” Foryan charged.

Lt. Foryan had been investigating the possible violations
since last June when a number of Mercer residents met with the Iron County District
Attorney Matthew J. Tingstad to voice their concerns.

Of course, all five defendants must be considered
innocent until proven guilty.

YES, Brundage, Minisan and Pierpont, the charges are real, despite your usual attempts to mislead people. And, NO, Christa and her group were not the whistleblowers, but some other honest and well-meaning citizens who want to clean up this ugly school board-administrator affair.

Has it occured to any authorities that unless the contracts of these administrative staff members specified that they were entitled to performance bonuses, the giving and taking of this money is illegal? And money taken that could have been put twards roof replacement? Money that a good administrator would have put towards infrastructure. This money should be paid back. Pierce should follow Brandts lead and resign. This group has done enough damage to our community